icsync

Sync Android camera photos & videos into your iCloud Photo Library — as full-resolution originals, in the real Photos app, not some third-party gallery.

There is no public Apple API to write into the iCloud Photo Library. icsync uses the only robust path: an always-on Mac signed into iCloud, importing media via osxphotos and letting Photos sync it up.

Android DCIM/Camera ──Syncthing send-only──▶ Mac inbox
        Mac inbox ──icsync (launchd)──▶ osxphotos import ──▶ Photos.app ──▶ iCloud Photos

icsync is the Mac-side bridge: a small CLI that watches an inbox folder, imports stable media into Photos, archives the originals, and installs itself as a launchd agent. The Android→Mac transport is off-the-shelf (Syncthing — no port-forwarding, no exposing the Mac).

Install

Needs pipx (brew install pipx). Install the CLI — it pulls in osxphotos automatically:

pipx install icsync

No pipx? python3 -m pip install --user icsync works too.

Then set up the bridge in order:

icsync doctor     # 1. check osxphotos + reminders (do prerequisites below first)
icsync install    # 2. create dirs + load the LaunchAgent (runs every 60s)
icsync status     # 3. confirm it's loaded and watching the inbox

Run icsync install after the prerequisites below — the agent imports into Photos and needs iCloud Photos on plus the one-time macOS permission grants.

From source:

git clone https://github.com/akurach/icsync && cd icsync
pipx install .

Prerequisites

1. Photos.app signed into your Apple ID, iCloud Photos ON (Photos → Settings → iCloud).
2. Syncthing on the Mac with a Receive Only folder at the icsync inbox (~/Documents/icsync/data/inbox by default), paired to the Android device's Send Only folder on DCIM/Camera.
3. On first import macOS will ask to grant Automation → Photos; osxphotos may also need Full Disk Access (System Settings → Privacy & Security).

Commands

How it behaves

• Idempotent — osxphotos import --skip-dups; re-delivered files don't duplicate.
• Safe — imported originals are moved to data/archive/<date>/, not deleted; a retention prune removes them after ICSYNC_RETENTION_DAYS (default 7). Set it high to keep originals indefinitely.
• One-way — Syncthing send-only → receive-only; nothing flows back to the phone.
• Mac off = delay, not loss — Syncthing on Android queues and retries; icsync catches up when the Mac returns.
• Partial-write safe — only files older than ICSYNC_STABLE_SECONDS (default 20) are imported, so half-synced files are skipped until complete.

Configuration (env vars)

To override for the agent, add them to the EnvironmentVariables dict in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.icsync.import.plist and icsync start.

Limitations

• Requires an always-on Mac as the bridge — no Apple device means no reliable path.
• Android "motion photos" import as stills (no Apple Live Photo pairing).
• Not affiliated with Apple; uses the public Photos import surface only.

License

MIT